“All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a sort of moral tinge to it, a playing with right or wrong.”

Henry David Thoreau

The United States presidential election has arrived.

“Is it just me… or is it warm in here?”

Nope! It’s not just me. It’s the entire planet. However, for the sake of brevity I shall focus on the part where I live. (After all, this is a BriefBlog.) The arrival of autumn in the southeastern United States saw temperatures as high as ninety-seven degrees. This was record breaking but let’s not allow the needle to skip across this record; instead here’s another tune to warm your hearts.

Thus far the Atlantic Hurricane season has birthed 13 tropical cyclones or storms. Six of these have become hurricanes. Even as I write this, these numbers could change. A tropical storm has sustained winds of 33 miles per hour; when sustained winds reach 74 miles per hour the storm becomes a hurricane. Hurricanes are a warm weather phenomena with the season starting on June 1 and continuing until November 30. The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), NOAA, and the Northern Gulf Institute (NGI) conducted a fifty year study (1970 - 2020) that indicated that the surface water temperature of the Gulf of Mexico had increased at a rate “approximately twice that of the global ocean”. The increased surface heat of the ocean drives the strength of a tropical storm resulting in the formation of a hurricane.

Helene started as a tropical depression moving across “record warm” ocean waters gaining intensity as it wreaked havoc on the western coast of Cuba and gulf coast of Florida. By the time Helene made landfall near the Aucilla River on the big bend region of Florida it had become a category 4 hurricane. Helene came ashore with winds estimated to be 140 miles per hour. The results have been catastrophic. This massive hurricane brought destruction and loss of lives to Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. The death toll is over 200.

Climate Change Is Not A Hoax.

Peace,

Al Obert

Radical Urge

The New Colossus

Emma Lazarus

1849 –

1887

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

A girl dad, a patient teacher and a student brimming with dreams. These are the victims of the Apalachee High School shooting

“Genuis begins great works,

Labor alone finishes them”.

- Joseph Joubert

The fruit of humankinds’ labor is ubiquitous. It is all around us whether it is the road or sidewalk you travel or the rainforest that is protected. The poetry and beauty of Labor is ever present.

Labor Unions serve as a balancing tool in many industries, harnessing the power of a collective to negotiate with the owner/management of the work environment. If you have health or retirement benefits, guaranteed vacation time (paid or unpaid), or any other benefits related to your employment you can thank organized Labor Unions regardless of your company's Union status.

It is generally accepted that the first labor strike in the United States occurred in 1768 in New York City when journeymen tailors had a work stoppage to protest a reduction in pay. The strike lasted for three days during which the employer granted the employees demands. The employer then sued the employees for “criminal conspiracy”. In 1794 the first trade union was formed giving birth to “The Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers” a union for shoemakers and leather workers. The Union was sued by the factory owners in 1806 for – wait for it –  “criminal conspiracy”. I see a pattern emerging. 

The Labor Union movement has come far in its journey to foster a safe and equitable labor environment. To all who keep the energy of commerce moving for the benefit of humankind…

Thank you. Happy Labor Day.

Peace.

“The vote is precious. It is the most powerful non-violent tool

we have in democracy.” 

– John Lewis

The very nature of democracy makes it all at once strong, fragile, malleable, beautiful, ugly, seductive, and alienating.

Once upon a time long long ago in a culture far far away there was a popular poster that looked as though it were drawn by a child. The poster became very famous…

“THE STATE OF EMERGENCY IS ALSO ALWAYS A STATE OF EMERGENCE” These words

were penned by Indian physicist Homi Bhabba in his book “The Location of Culture”.

EARTH DAY is a symbol of emergence from the state of emergency that our planetary home

has been experiencing.

Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius in 1896 wrote, what proved to be, a seminal document

stating that levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could significantly alter earths’ surface

temperature. This alteration would result in the “greenhouse effect”; a term thought to have

been coined by French mathematician Joseph Fournier.

It has been said that it would cost less than 5% of the global budget to solve climate change. Of

course, the issue preventing an all out no holds barred action on global warming is one of

commerce. Despite this reluctance on the part of industries and, in some instances, entire

nations to wholeheartedly embrace the idea of a thriving healthy planet; progress has and is

being made.

If you are reading this then you are most likely someone who is alert, awake and aware of what

is at stake. The bottom line is this: at a moment in time when the survival of the planet and the

creatures that inhabit the planet are at risk; there is one truth you can count on: one way or

another the planet will survive.

Al Obert

We were deceived…